Plan For 4000 m.p.h. “Square” Airliner
(N Z. Press Association—Copyright)
LONDON, November 3. A “square-shaped hypersonic airliner” capable of economic cruising at six times the speed of sound—about 4000 miles an hour—is the latest design of Dr Barnes Wallis, the “Daily Telegraph” reports.
Dr Wallis, who is in charge of the Vickers advance design department, perfected the principle of the swing-wing design as used in the American Fill bomber. His successful design for sweeping the main planes backwards in the air for supersonic flight was adopted by the Americans after the British Government refused funds to develop his ideas. Now Dr Wallis, who was 80 earlier this year, has proved that his design for a squareshaped fuselage is eight times as strong as the cigar-shaped aircraft. It is also lighter in construction than the cigarshaped aircraft and. surprisingly, a better shape aerodynamically. This means it needs less power to drive it through the air at hypersonic speeds, and its strength at high altitude eliminates the risk of decompression explosions, such as destroyed the first Comets. The square-shaped fuselage, resembling an elongated coffin, has two skins. Here lies the secret of its strength, the newspaper’s air correspondent, Air Commodore E. M. Donaldson, says. It has four large tubes running the whole length of the fuselage. The skins are attached to the inside and
outside of the tubes and braced internally. Every structure of the new plane can be built of ordinary light alloy metals which are still the most suitable for aircraft construction. The structure of the new plane has no other function than to withstand aerodynamic stresses. This results in the ease at which the heat produced by kinetic heating can be taken away. The new plane, which has small wings for use at subsonic speeds, has defeated the “heat barrier.” There is no need to use special and expensive metals such as titanium. These add great weight to the plane, drastically reducing pay load, and add tremendously to construction cost.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 18
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331Plan For 4000 m.p.h. “Square” Airliner Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 18
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